Orchestrating households as collectives of participation in the distributed energy transition: New empirical and conceptual insights

Building on recent dialogue between sustainability transition theories and Science and Technology Studies (STS), this article conceptually and empirically studies and analyses the orchestration of households as collectives of participation in the process of distributed energy transition. Synthesising across past studies, we explore three types of what we call 'collectives of orchestration', relatively durable collectives that work to orchestrate participation at a distance in space and time. These are: a) collectives of policy production and regulation, b) collectives of research, development and innovation, and c) collectives of technology design. We explore how these collectives enroll households, and the ways in which they mediate participation through different strategies and techniques, producing conditions for various modes of participation. We proceed to discuss the co-production of participation in and by households, including ways in which households can re-configure issues around which research and demonstration projects are set up. Through this exercise, we identify four distinct processes through which orchestration is enacted: 1) the production of visions, expectations and imaginations, 2) network construction and re-configuration, 3) scripting and 4) domestication.